Chapter XXI.

Of the fact that devils struggle with men not without
effort on their part.

But our belief is that
they undertake this struggle not without effort on their part. For in
their conflict they themselves have some sort of anxiety and
depression, and especially when they are matched with stronger rivals,
i.e., saints and perfect men. Otherwise no contest or struggle, but
only a simple deception of men, and one free from anxiety on their part
would be assigned to them. And how then would the Apostle’s words
stand, where he says: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against world-rulers of
this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places;”
and this too: “So fight I, not as one that beateth the
air;” and again: “I have fought a good
fight”?14791479Eph. vi. 12; 1 Cor. ix. 26; 2 Tim. iv.
7. For where it is
spoken of as a fight, and conflict, and battle, there must be effort
and exertion and anxiety on both sides, and equally there must either
be in store for them chagrin and confusion for their failure, or
delight consequent upon their victory. But where one fights with ease
and security against another who struggles with great effort, and in
order to overthrow his rival makes use of his will alone as his
strength, there it ought not to be called a battle, struggle, or
strife, but a sort of unfair and unreasonable assault and attack. But
they certainly have to labour, and when they attack men, exert
themselves in no lesser degree in order to secure from each one that
victory which they want to obtain, and there is hurled back upon them
the same confusion which was awaiting us had we been worsted by them;
as it is said: “The head of their compassing me about, the labour
of their own lips shall overwhelm them;” and: “His sorrow
shall be turned on his own head;” and again: “Let the snare
which he knoweth not come upon him, and let the net which he hath
hidden catch him, and into that very snare let him
fall;”14801480Ps. cxxxix. (cxl.) 10; vii. 17; xxxiv. (xxxv.)
8. viz., that which
he contrived for the deception of men. They then themselves also come
to grief, and as they damage us so are they also in like manner damaged
by us, nor when they are worsted do they depart without confusion, and
seeing these defeats of theirs and their struggles, one who had good
eyes in his inner man, seeing also that they gloated over the downfall
and mischances of individuals, and fearing lest his own case might
furnish them with this kind of delight, prayed to the Lord saying:
“Lighten mine eyes that I sleep not in death: lest mine enemy
say, I have prevailed against him. They that trouble me will rejoice if
I be moved;” and: “O My God, let them not rejoice over me;
let them not say in their hearts, Aha, Aha, our very wish; neither let
them say; we have devoured him;” and: “They gnashed their
teeth upon me. Lord, how long wilt Thou look on this?” for:
“he lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait
to ravish the poor;” and: “He seeketh from God his
meat.”14811481Ps. xii. (xiii.) 4, 5; xxxiv. (xxxv.) 24, 28;
16, 17; ix. (x.) 9; ciii. (civ.) 21. And again when
all their efforts are exhausted, and they have failed to secure our
deception, they must “be confounded and blush” at the
failure of their efforts, “who seek our souls to destroy them:
and let them be covered with shame and confusion who imagine evil
against us.”14821482Ps. xxxix. (xl.) 15; xxxiv. (xxxv.) 26; xxxix.
(xl.) 15. Jeremiah also
says: “Let them be confounded, and let not me be confounded: let
them be afraid, and let not me be afraid: bring upon them the fury of
Thy wrath, and with a double destruction destroy them.”14831483Jer. xvii. 18. For no one can doubt that when they
are vanquished by us they will be destroyed with a double destruction:
first, because while men are seeking after holiness, they, though they
possessed it, lost it, and became the cause of man’s ruin;
secondly, because being spiritual existences, they have been vanquished
by carnal and earthly ones. Each one then of the saints when he looks
on the destruction of his foes and his own triumphs, exclaims with
delight: “I will follow after mine enemies and overtake them: and
I will not turn until they are destroyed. I will break them and they
shall not be able to stand: they shall fall under my
feet,”14841484Ps. xvii.
(xviii.) 38, 39. and in his
prayers against them the same prophet says: “Judge thou, O Lord,
them that wrong me: overthrow them that fight against me. Take hold of
arms and shield: and rise up to help me. Bring out the sword and shut
up the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul, I am thy
salvation.”14851485Ps. xxiv.
(xxxv.) 1–3. And when
by
370subduing and
destroying all our passions we have vanquished these, we shall then be
permitted to hear those words of blessing: “Thy hand shall be
exalted over thine enemies, and all thine enemies shall
perish.”14861486Micah v. 9. And so when we
read or chant all these and such like passages found in holy writ,
unless we take them as written against those spiritual wickednesses
which lie in wait for us night and day, we shall not only fail to draw
from them any edification to make us gentle and patient, but shall
actually meet with some dreadful consequence and one that is quite
contrary to evangelical perfection. For we shall not only not be taught
to pray for or to love our enemies, but actually shall be stirred up to
hate them with an implacable hatred, and to curse them and incessantly
to pour forth prayers against them. And it is terribly wrong and
blasphemous to think that these words were uttered in such a spirit by
holy men and friends of God, on whom before the coming of Christ the
law was not imposed for the very reason that they went beyond its
commands, and chose rather to obey the precepts of the gospel and to
aim at apostolical perfection, though they lived before the
dispensation of the time.